Guaranty Trust Holding (GTCO) has secured the final regulatory green light from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to establish a wholly-owned payment subsidiary dubbed HabariPay.
The firm stated in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange that it received all regulatory approvals for the commencement of the operations of HabariPay, according to multiple media reports.
The new subsidiary is expected to bolster GTCO’s services suite for largely underserved markets in line with the CBN’s financial inclusion drive.
GTCO CEO Segun Agbaje was quoted as saying: “Payments are central to the development of financial services globally and represent a key growth area for the group.
“GTCO Plc has been at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge innovative solutions with its banking franchise and would leverage this capacity to transform the evolving payment space.
“With HabariPay, we have successfully created another pathway towards enhancing the service experience for our customers and creating more value for our stakeholders.”,
Agbaje also said that HabariPay will tap technology to enhance access to financial services for individuals and businesses across Africa.
Recent developments in African payment space
Last month, Nigerian fintech firm Grey teamed up with pan-African payments company Cellulant to drive its expansion in the East African region.
This May, payment startup Sokin signed a multi-year partnership deal with Mastercard to support the introduction of its fixed-price payment services across new markets in the Middle East and Africa.
The same month, Nigeria-based Interswitch secured strategic investments from LeapFrog Investments and Tana Africa Capital to enhance the payment ecosystem across the African continent.
This February, Nigerian fintech OPay revealed plans to expand its footprint to more countries across the Middle East and North Africa this year.
